Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder affecting the upper and lower motor neurons. Though the pathogenesis of ALS is still unclear, exploring the associations between risk factors and ALS can provide reliable evidence to find the pathogenesis. This meta-analysis aims to synthesize all related risk factors of ALS to understand this disease comprehensively.
We searched the following databases: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, Web of Science, and Scopus. Moreover, observational studies, including cohort studies, and case-control studies, were included in this meta-analysis.
A total of 36 eligible observational studies were included, and 10 of them were cohort studies and the rest were case-control studies. We found six factors exacerbated the progression of disease: head trauma (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.13, 1.40), physical activity (OR = 1.06, 95% CI = 1.04, 1.09), electric shock (OR = 2.72, 95% CI = 1.62, 4.56), military service (OR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.11, 1.61), pesticides (OR = 1.96, 95% CI = 1.7, 2.26), and lead exposure (OR = 2.31, 95% CI = 1.44, 3.71). Of note, type 2 diabetes mellitus was a protective factor for ALS. However, cerebrovascular disease (OR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.75, 1.29), agriculture (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 0.74, 1.99), industry (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 0.81, 1.91), service (OR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.19, 1.17), smoking (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 0.5, 3.09), chemicals (OR = 2.45, 95% CI = 0.89, 6.77), and heavy metal (OR = 1.5, 95% CI = 0.47, 4.84) were not risk factors for ALS based on meta-analyses.
Head trauma, physical activity, electric shock, military service, pesticides, and lead were risk factors for ALS onset and progression. But DM was a protective factor. This finding provides a better understanding of ALS risk factors with strong evidence for clinicians to rationalize clinical intervention strategies.